Tagged: Internet of Things

Working with Marketing teams to develop IoT solutions or products is one of the challenges we have in Carriots. This happens because Internet of Things has changed the vision of some aspects in marketing related with connected products, like: the product lifecycle, the customer engagement or the quality of the service.

Managing the product lifecycle – imagine that you buy a car. Traditionally a car had not a connexion with Internet. Nowadays, most of cars are connected in many different ways and that situation generate new management opportunities and challenges:

New business models: most of vehicules are connected products that offer new services to users. On the first year these services can be free and after that they mostly start to have a cost per year or trimestre. The weather service or the parking information can be some examples. This “add-on” is indeed a new business model for brands that obtain new benefits after the sell and now marketers need to learn how to manage this. For example marketers now need to focus on the conversion process of a free trial service into a subscription.

New software updates that offer new features. Software updates have become a daily routine, where our mobile apps constantly add new features and this is also becoming normal in connected products using software in the user experience like a Tesla car. Imagine the power to introduce new features to the product by downloading an actualization that transforms the product into something different from when the customer acquired it.

Photo by Laura Gariglio

Customer engagement.-

Some weeks ago we wrote a post about that ( you can read it here) . The conclusion was that now you have real data about your clients and how is their relationship with your products. If you offer them something in exchange (for example, the weather forecast for free in the cars) the customers might share with you information about how they use your product.

But is not only this, marketers can also track information about how the customers share their product usage in social media . This is information about how people use your product and it is a good feedback. Marketers here can play a big role, not only analyzing that data . They can cheer up people to use their media to share experiences and create challenges for the customers. Nike, for example, has a big community of runners using their products and sharing information (#justdoit).

Quality of service.

For companies: Like recently was in our post about Condition Monitoring and how Internet of Things are changing the maintenance processes. Including some sensor in products and introducing IOT Data Analytics you can improve a product. A better maintenance increases security and reduces costs. The company not only sells just a product, it is now a connected product that offers new quality guaranties that were impossible before.

For customers: Internet of Things can change your relationship with a product. Recently, Jaguar and Shell announced that they launched together the first in-car payment system. It works via Shell app and Shell service stations and is a part of the new jaguar XE, XF and the F-Pace.The system provides a new step in the quality of service for both companies: Shell offers something different from another’s gas stations, a benefit for customer: commodity. And Jaguar offers to their clients a new experience, another option. For sure, we will see more of this type of alliance in the near future.

Internet of Things is a marketing revolution in someway, because the teams need to have a deep knowledge about this new features and services that no were available before.

The Internet of Things and Cloud Computing have been accelerating the digitization of different economic sectors from the last 30 years. This is exactly the case of the Industrial Sector, where pioneers, started decades ago working on digitization and process automation, always looking better efficiency in their processes to be more competitive. This digital revolution of Process Automation started in the fabrication area, inside the factories, where the computers started managing connected machines and business systems.

Ten year ago, match in time with the first mobility technologies and other technologies like Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) or GPS Systems in real time, another process started in the factories: the automation of processes outside factories, like logistic systems. Nowadays it seems normal to see traceability packages from factories to clients or in other areas of supply chain like inventory warehouse. Since a few year ago, many companies in different sectors are including Internet of Things in their strategies to transform and digitalize their businesses. The consequences of introducing this tech are various and can give an answer to many different cases. The Process Automation outside factories is a good illustration about the use of IoT technologies to cost reduction and better efficiency.

When a company decides to transform their products into connected products, including sensors and internet connectivity into them, on one hand they want to explore new business models and in other hand they also can use this information to automate some processes thanks the new information available or remote control over the products.There are so many examples already available, for example about Condition Monitoring ( we wrote a post about that here with a few examples) on of them is Max, an elevator of Thyssen Krupp.

In the lift case,The elevators companies can introduce IoT in their maintenance processes and include some sensors to receive information, analyze that and can predict some errors or failures before they happen. This improvement is a big change because now you can have the information in real time and before this specific information was only available if the maintenance team are there. The evolution of lifts towards the Internet of Things to the lift permits :

Analyzing operational data from distance and improve the predictive maintenance, avoid failures for example in some pieces that are starting to work improperly. It can automatize the maintenance, programming better scheduled calendar, including less maintenance.

Improving the on-site maintenance by automating the process of provisioning the list of materials needed by the technician to do the job on the first visit. Therefore avoiding a second visit an intervention with the associated extra cost.

Automate the supervision of Service Level Agreements (SLAs) guarantee and process. Because you have real time information about availability and operation of the equipment, companies can improve their warranty service.

Some quality processes can be automatize too, because now you have almost all the statistical information needed in the detection defective parts or production batches.

Billing processes can be improved by IoT too, for example including new variables like usage based billing usage conditions.

The Automation Process for connected objects is just one of the multiples choices and challenges that Internet of Things offers. If we have a map of the processes of a company, we will surely see IoT impacting in most of them. In some cases we can even see how the process is transformed from a manual process into a fully automated process.

Take for example a car rental through a mobile app . Thanks to IoT, now you can choose a car in one point of a city and return it in another place without human interaction in the process. Companies like Car2go and Emov are already this service in Madrid City.

Are you thinking to improve your business processes and be more efficiency with IoT? Contact us, tell us about your business and we offer our best IoT solution to you.

Recently our CEO Miguel Castillo was invited by ICEMD (spanish) to write an article about Process Automation and IoT. This post is not a literal traduction but include some of his words in that.

Nowadays in the Internet of People, many businesses rely on collecting big data on how users surf the web or share content in exchange of free applications such as social media, search engines or websites. Most business analysts state that people are the product and advertising is the income.

Consumers mainly pay for physical products like Cars, TVs, smoke detectors, etc… and these products are more and more connected devices to your smart phone or directly to the Internet. This connection enables the manufacturer to offer new features like real time traffic info for cars or online content for TVs.

Imagine you buy a new car that has embedded connectivity and your dealer ask you these questions: “Are you willing to share data from your car with the manufacturer? And what do you want in exchange?”

Well you can find a similar question Accenture Report, The Internet of Things: the Future of Consumer Adoption”

So many customers are willing to share their consumer habits in exchange of a free service or Feature.

If a connected product has an active connection to the Internet then the cost of collecting info on how your customers uses your product is just a few dollars (or euros) per year. Information on customer engagement with a product is something very new and very valuable. For example it helps the designer of the product to understand how the customers use the product and how to design the new version or new features.

So the Marketing potential for manufacturers of connected products is huge. The problem is not technology. The main concern should be how these companies build a relationship with their customers to be:

Clearly stated: If you buy a product that collects info on your habits: you should be noticed and be aware of this.

Accepted by the consumer: There should be mechanisms for the consumer to “opt-out” is this data exchange.

Secure and Private: The manufacturer should provide ways to offer privacy through making data anonymous or control third party info exchange like brands, advertisers, friends and family.

Fair: Most users will only accept this data collection if there is an incentive form them.

Brand Research and Analysis companies like Altimeter Group are already doing reports on how to craft a digital strategy and the possibilities of customer experience in IoT products. On their report you can find their recommended methodology to build your strategy:

Customer Engagement Analysis of connected products should be a priority of any Digital Strategy. Carriots IoT platform is already evolving to support this.

Christmas season is just around the corner and smart bracelets to track your favorite sport might be the perfect gift. Sport wearable devices, combined with apps, help you train properly while they also motivate you. You might already know the wonders of the most known products but here are some other interesting IoT sport products:

For example, if you are a runner probably want to try the Under Armour Gemini 2 shoes. The shoe is connected with an app to your mobile ( although there is no need to run with your phone) and the shoes tracks every run you make. The app get a map of your run and suggest how to improve yourself by the next. Also a pair notifies you when you achieve 400 miles that is the calculation of time that a pair can used properly ( and time to buy a new pair of course). In the web site you have information about how the pair of shoes works,in the next video Under Armour team speaks about how was the creation of the shoes and how every detail was important.

If your sport is baseball-softball Zepp is for you. It is a training platform that mixes a free app and a sensor you put in your baseball bat. The system tracks your swings and smart coaches you the areas you must focus on. The instant evaluations can even render swing in 3D. You can even go social and compare your training with other players.

Zepp has also a similar solutions for golf players. This time the sensors are located in a wearable glove. If you like like tennis, then check Babolatproducts. They are the pioneers in racquets sports. Babolat launched the first product, the “Play&Connect Racquet”, back in 2012. It is used by professionals like Rafa Nadal.

There are other examples for well known companies likeAdidas developing solutions in the IoT arena, like Micoach Smart Ball that tracks your strikes and show how you manipulate the soccer ball .The ball hides a sensor to collect data like the power of your kick, the speed or how the strike is and sends to your phone. Like other solutions, your smartphone app becomes a smart coach to improve your ball handling.

More than geek gadgets

Most of these sport wearables are considered simply geek gadgets to improve the amateur pratice. But now they are becoming more and more useful to “End the Pain”. An interesting article in Technologist.eu Magazinetalks about sport and technology and one of the topics is the efficiency in the computer simulations to prevent injuries (and other interesting topics too related with sport and tech) or help in the recovery process . You can read about the example of Kitman Labs, a company that has a product to transform data into insights to reduce player injuries and optimize the players health .

With Internet of Things you can be ready to practise any sport, don’t you? Or at least you can find nice christmas gift ideas.

Ever wondered how many machines fail around the world every second? It might be impossible to know the exact number because most of the machines are not connected to a system where they can report errors. If the machine is critical to your business or to your life, you might have a maintenance contract to prevent failures or at least have a repair as soon as possible. Companies providing maintenance contracts have tried to prevent failures in their systems by programing periodic inspections and maintenances job and to avoid common failures. Normally periodic inspections follow a protocol the check the parts of the machine and try to fix minor malfunctions to avoid a big one. Internet of Things, in some industries, has revolutionized the maintenance process by introducing Condition Monitoring Systems that can prevent malfunctions and sudden failures. Condition Monitoring, picks data that machinery is transmitting while it operates ( like temperature, vibrations,fluids, electronic data, power consumptions …), analysing them and combining with other external information ( like site conditions, for example the weather or the repair history) . Mix all the data, process it with the right tools and workflows and as result you can predict possible failures.

Verizon has a special division working in develop IoT Products in Smart Monitoring & Management ( you have the link at the end of the post) , if you see the next video you understand better what Condition Monitoring is:

The connected machinery and the Internet of Things allows to have important data to analyze and to program better maintenance jobs. This new procedure is very important for the people who work with this machinery (sometimes very dangerous) trying to prevent possible accidents and helping the Maintenance Team “predict” better inspections. In fact, Condition Monitoring has become a very important step in the Maintenance Strategy. Big companies like Caterpillar (CAT) are working with this technology in many fields and improving it every day to offer better solutions, one example you can see in the video about how Cat® MineStar™ Health works:

The benefits are huge: more secure machines, planned maintenance becomes more effective, important reductions in repair costs and an increase in the machine life expectancy. The IoT has changed the Maintenance Concept of many industries and machines and there are already many examples around us, like in the elevators of ThyssenKrupp.

Sometimes, there are machines working in hostile environments and access to them is difficult. In this case we can combine Condition Monitoring with Remote Diagnosis of the problems. Siemens has expertise in the area. They use remote monitoring and diagnosis in wind turbines deployed worldwide, normally in remote areas to collect all sort of alarms remotely but also detecting potential errors before become major failures.

Carriots Iot Platform is already used by several of our industrial customers in their Condition Monitoring strategy. Our software is a building block of the solution, easy to integrate with existing devices and IT systems used in maintenance workflows. If you are a manufacturer of machinery willing to offer new maintenance services, or a company providing maintenance services, don’t hesitate to contact us!

The Internet of Things is not only changing the world around us, furthermore is bringing solutions to existing problems ( or worries ) for recent parents . One of the first concerns for parents is knowing if the baby is still breathing or not. Most newborn parents wake up several times at night only to check if all is correct. Owlet is a smart sock that scans the heart rate and monitors the oxygen, using oximetry technology. The information is sent to a base station you can put in your room. In case something goes wrong, alarms with sound red light can wake you.

But hey! That’s not all! Are your worried about the temperature of the nursery? OK that might sound like a TV commercial but take a look a this other product combining MImo and Nest. Mimo has developed a Smart onesie (washable) to monitor your baby and tell you information about how your baby is breathing and also other information like the body position or the sleeping temperature. Nest is the well known Smart Thermostat bought by Google. Mimo and Nest work together and this way you can adjust the thermostat of the room with your Nest app if the baby is too warm for example. Also includes a camera to see what is going on. With this you can be a certified Geek dad or mom!

Sometimes, babies are ill and it is mandatory to check the temperature several times a day…but you better be very careful to not disturb the baby if he is asleeped. In this case you might want to try TempTraq, an intelligent patch. This wearable thermometer continuously records baby temperature and sends alerts to your mobile phone. It also records the historical temperature data to see fluctuations.

The Spanish Government gives this seal to SMEs who have proved to be working in innovation. With this “Innovative SME” seal, Carriots is now included in a public record of small and medium sized Spanish enterprises that make efforts and set resources in R&D.

The seal recognizes the efforts that Carriots do in developing new products and services for IoT. At Carriots, we have focused our R&D efforts in building a leading horizontal IoT platform used by many different industries. We also proud to jointly innovate with our customers, present are all over the world, and help them create amazing and useful new connected products.

We are very excited to be recognized as a featured vendor in DZone’s 2014 Guide to the Internet of Things, a premium resource focused on IoT development trends, strategies, and tools. The guide includes expert opinions and tips, industry knowledge, and product and platform comparisons.

Readers of the guide will get an overview of the IoT industry and learn about some issues that developers are facing in IoT. Topics covered by the guide include an introduction to IoT, IoT protocol and development issues, and what the future will look like for IoT.

DZone’s IoT guide also offers key insights into development practices for IoT through a survey of more than 2000 developers and experts, allowing readers to learn opinions and trends from the best and brightest in the developer community. Additionally, the guide’s solutions directory compares IoT hardware, product lines, and platforms to help developers wisely choose the tools they need.

Today we are going to talk about a book that has just been published under the Radar collection of O’reilly publishing. This collection tracks the latest technology trends of the Internet. This report is only available as a free ebook (download from O’reilly website) or on read it online at Safari online books.

Industrial Internet Book Cover

The writer is Jon Bruner, a data journalist, who works at O’Reilly as editor-at-large. Before that, he was data editor at Forbes Magazine. Jon spoke with 50 experts from the industries discussed in this report. General Electric has underwritten this report, and helped finding the industry experts interviewed.

The book starts by perfectly describing the Industrial Internet as the Enterprise Internet of Things where machines become a Web service. The elements of this ecosystem are available anywhere at little cost and composed of:

pervasive networks

open-source microcontrollers

software that collects and analyses massive amounts of data

software to control machines and provide intelligence

From the start the author quotes many of the interviews and provides many real examples of projects implementing this concept of Industrial Internet. The diversity of people interviewed offers a broad vision on the matter that is really useful to understand how big this phenomenon is. And we are just at the beginning of this new Industrial Revolution.

Chapter 2 deals with Security and how education will be a crucial part of the effort to keep the Industrial Internet safe. This chapter is too short, perhaps because few works on this topic have been done and published. Certainly, security of machines connected to the Internet will be a hot area of R&D during the future years.

Chapter 3 analyses the impact of Industrial Internet on the following industries:

Energy

Automotive

Transportation

Healthcare

Manufacturing

On each sector some projects are described to give you examples of what can be done. But the most interesting feeling you get after reading this chapter is that 99% of the work in Industrial Internet remains to be done. There is a HUGE list of challenges and projects ahead. If you are looking for business opportunities in IOT you should definitely read this chapter.

Chapter 4 reviews Silicon Valley innovation in the Industrial Internet. Obviously we don’t agree with this chapter being so focused on the valey. At Carriots we know that right now MANY poles of innovation are doing great research and product development in this field. Silicon Valey is a hot spot but at the same level as England, Spain, Germany, Sweden, India, or many others. The Future is not what it used to be, designed in California.

Our conclusion on the book: It is an excellent report that can be easily read in a few hours but that keep you thinking for days on this subject and the opportunities to come. Specially recommended to the new comers to the M2M and IOT world